Initiation
by SkinnyLittleLesbian
Summary: As requested by boostergohan. With the threat of an extraterrestrial invasion, the Avengers lend Emma and Regina a hand. Swan Queen.


"Emma…"

Emma smirked through the darkness and pressed her lips firmly to the taut skin of Regina's shoulder. She understood, of course, that the dark haired woman had a meeting bright and early at eight in the morning and that waking Regina up at just after three in the morning would no doubt be an irritation. Still, there were times when she awoke in the stifling pitch black of their room and she questioned how real this was. Not too long ago she had nothing in her life – and quite suddenly she had everything.

"Mm?"

"I have work in the morning."

"I know." Emma's warm breath sent a shiver down Regina's spine.

"What are you doing, Ms. Swan?"

"Reminding myself."

"Of what?"

"Of how real you are." Emma bit down gently on Regina's collarbone, eliciting a quiet gasp from her partner. "Of how you're mine."

"Couldn't you remind yourself at a more appropriate time?" Despite her words, Regina had yet to push Emma away. Rather her fingers curled around Emma's biceps and held the blonde in place. "I'm quite tired-"

"I'm sure." Emma shifted up and delayed further complaints by bringing her lips to Regina's. Her fingers danced lightly down Regina's sides, skittered across Regina's stomach, and toyed playfully with the ties to Regina's silken pajama pants.

"I ought to-"

"You ought to do a lot of things," Emma teased, "but what you're going to do right now is lay back and let me love you."

Regina growled under her breath, and her grip on Emma's arms loosened. Her head nestled back against the pillows as Emma's lithe fingers made quick work of her clothing. The cool night air brought bumps to her skin and firmed her nipples. Emma's tongue lapped over the hardened nubs, and she purred her appreciation. In contrast to her warm mouth, Emma's fingers were icy cold as they slipped between Regina's legs.

They never reached their destination, however, as the entire house shook and a brilliant red light blasted through the window. Emma flinched back, yelping, but Regina snapped to immediate attention. With a wave of her hand, her discarded pajamas zoomed back onto her body and she hurried to the window.

"What's going on?" Emma stumbled after her, grouchy that their intimacy had been interrupted. Worried by the magnitude of whatever had exploded just outside their window, she tried to peer past Regina.

Regina shook her head. "I'm not sure. Go check on Henry."

"What'll you do?"

"I'm going to step outside-"

"No way."

"Emma."

Emma grabbed Regina's wrist. She would freely admit that she felt like Regina could slip through her fingers and out of her life faster than she could blink, and that fear was a strong motivator in all her decisions. "I'm going with you."

"Very well. But don't get in the way."

"But Regina, that's what I do best."

0-0-0

"Sir, power levels are dropping."

"I can see that."

"Suit is losing-"

"Leave it up and stop nagging." Although the suit had taken considerable damage and the numbers flickering in front of him were indeed much lower than he'd like, Stark pushed a little harder. The alien life form he'd been fighting had crashed down in the woods somewhere in Maine, and he needed to find the critter before it could recover.

As he zoomed over the tree tops and was greeted by the dim lights of a sleepy town, he frowned. According to Jarvis, there shouldn't have been anything out here but trees and the occasional raccoon. His gaze darted to the numbers once more; the back-up he'd been promised was long overdue, but he didn't have time to worry about that. If there were people out here, his first goal was removing the life form before damage could be wrought.

"Where is it?"

"One hundred yards north-north-east."

Stark blasted through the air, his sensors scanning the town. Thankfully it was so late at night that most, if not all, of the town's inhabitants seemed to be safely indoors. The one man he saw was walking a large Dalmatian – and immediately fled to the nearest door when Stark blustered by. Good, Stark thought. The fewer people about the better.

When he finally spotted the alien relief filtered through him; when he spotted the pair of women next to it, that relief quickly sizzled into intense focus. He slammed into the ground in front of them and held his arm out.

"Get inside."

For a moment there was near silence. The only noises were the sounds of Stark's suit calibrating and the creaking groans of the alien trying to get its bearings. Stark had the vague hope that the women would simply follow his directions – but his experience with bystanders suggested that they would remain and cause problems.

"This is my town," one woman finally stated, "and I am responsible for keeping it safe."

"Maybe we should leave the big monster fighting to the big monster fighter."

Stark swiveled and eyed them both. Though the blonde was speaking rationally, she was staring down at the alien with keen interest and not the slightest bit of fear.

"Oh please, Sheriff Swan. You speak as though you haven't faced your share of monsters."

Emma's lips curled up into a wry grin that quivered at the edges. "Okay, so yeah, I have. But he seems like he's got this under control."

Stark sighed. They were going to stand there bickering, he determined, rather than fleeing to safety. He didn't have time to shoo them away, though, as his suit's power was fading rapidly. With them still nearby, he returned his attention to the beast. He lifted one arm, directed all power to his palm, and blasted energy out. The beam of white light smashed into the alien and he had just enough left in his suit to run a scan over the creature's body.

Why, he wondered, had he agreed to this mission knowing that his suit had been compromised? Fury had his patter down to an art form. This won't be anything too taxing, Tony. The team is across the ocean, Tony. You're the only one near enough to take care of this, Tony. Yeah, he groused. He was the nearest one at approximately three thousand miles away. I'll be sending back-up along as soon as I can, Tony. Keep it contained, Tony.

"Jarvis, switch to-"

"There is no secondary power source, sir."

"Lemme finish what I'm saying-"

Bored with the scene unfolding in front of her, Regina stepped forward and summoned a fireball to her palm. When the beast reared back on its four hind legs, she took aim at its belly. The flames licked hungrily at its underside; it toppled back with a shrill shriek. When it rose again, Emma slipped her hand into Regina's.

"I'll keep it down while you find its weak spot."

Emma felt Regina's hand grip a little tighter on hers. It had been a while since they'd done magic individually, and even longer since they'd united. Things in Storybrooke had been almost too quiet, and Emma was beginning to regret letting herself get so out of practice. Not that, she thought, she had actually ever been truly in practice.

With pure willpower she held the alien against the ground. It was a strange creature – with four legs, one arm, a cylindrical head with a tongue-like appendage that lolled out intermittently, and no perceptible eyes. It strained against her, but she held fast until Regina lifted one hand and blasted the thing once more. This time it screamed and fell flat.

0-0-0

"I'm telling you," Stark slammed his helmet onto the table; Fury was blatantly ignoring him and nothing pissed him off quite as quickly as that. "Those two women were something special."

"Write it up in your report."

Stark fought back the urge to laugh. He hadn't written a report in a long while; they were technicalities, and he had more important things to be thinking about. "So that's the end of it?"

"I appreciate your input-"

"But?"

"But we're not looking for operatives." Fury focused his good eye on Stark and shrugged. "We've had our hands full with that kid in New York."

"Parker can handle himself-"

"This is not open to discussion. You may own the building, but you're not in control."

"That's not something I can forget, what with how much you love reminding me."

"Good. Then we're done here."

"If you don't talk to them, I will."

Fury frowned.

0-0-0

Henry bounced in his seat, unable to fully comprehend that Tony Stark – the Tony Stark – Iron Man – richest, coolest man in the whole world – was sitting one cushion down from him on the couch. He must be dreaming, he determined, because nothing that awesome ever happened in his life. All the fantastical occurrences in Storybrooke ended in bloodshed, tears, and someone being related to him. If Tony Stark ended up being, like, his long lost uncle, he would so not complain.

"What's wrong with you?"

Henry flushed. Words did not come easily to him once he made eye contact with the hero. "Uh…"

"Take it easy, huh? Don't have a heart attack."

"I won't."

"You said your moms'll be down soon, yeah?"

Henry nodded. "Why do you want to talk to them?"

Fury chose this moment to cut in. He looked wholly uncomfortable in Regina's arm chair by the window and the bulk of his muscle spilled over the arms. "That's classified."

"But I'm their son. Anything you want to say to them, you can say to me."

"They defeated a monster last night, kid." Seeing no reason to obfuscate, Stark leaned back against the couch.

"They do that a lot."

"We wanted to talk to them about enlisting their help."

Henry scrambled to his feet, excitement making his eyes dance. "The answer is yes."

"What answer is that?" Emma stepped into the living room, yawned, and scratched the back of her neck.

"You're going to be a superhero."

"Ah… no."

"But-"

"Emma's right." Regina followed after; she was considerably less disheveled than her partner and had even found the time to apply a neat layer of makeup. "We have you, Henry, and this town to look after. Gallivanting off to who knows where isn't conducive to-"

"You have to…"

"Just hear us out," Stark interrupted.

Fury leaned forward and balanced his elbows on his knees. "We're here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

0-0-0

Emma scooped up a glob of… she stared intently at it before determining that there really was no word in the English language, at least that she knew of, that could properly describe what she currently held in her hand. To keep from vomiting, she tossed it into the dumpster provided for her by the intimidating one-eyed gentleman who seemed intent on keeping this whole debacle as quiet as possible. Except that he wasn't willing to pitch in on the clean up.

Neither was Regina, Emma thought with a tinge of bitterness. They were a team, or so she thought. Rather than working together to cleanse Storybrooke of its mystery extraterrestrial visitor, Regina claimed she had too much to do and had escaped to town hall before Emma could even sputter out a complaint. It didn't matter, she tried to tell herself. But it was hard to be magnanimous toward anyone when there was a splatter of alien guts on her cheek.

"This is awful," she muttered to herself. She threw another handful of the muck into the dumpster before dragging a wrist over her forehead. The heat of the day was just another benefit to her supposedly voluntary manual labor.

"Emma!"

The blonde twisted and watched her son scamper down into the small crater, wincing as some of the alien goo got on his jeans. Regina would have a heart attack about that later – but she would make sure she was at least a mile away, preferably two. Henry could bear the brunt of that onslaught. Once he was at her side, he sneezed and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Kid, you shouldn't be down here."

"I thought maybe you could use your help."

She stared at the mucus dangling from his nose and sighed. "You're going to add to my mess, not help me clean it up."

He pawed at his nose again. "No way. I'm here to help."

"You just want to get close to Iron Man again."

"So?" Henry bounced on his heels. "Is that so wrong? He's like the coolest man in the whole universe. Except maybe the Hulk."

Emma rolled her eyes. "If they're so cool, why are they sitting in our living room while I'm out here knee deep in crap?"

His nose wrinkled. "This is… crap?"

"Figure of speech, kid. This is just blood and guts and… who the hell knows what." Emma watched some of the goo dribble between her fingers. "It reminds me a lot of the ectoplasmic goo from Ghostbusters."

Henry's smile burst back to life. "Oh, yeah! That's definitely what this looks like. Does that mean it was a ghost?"

"No, it was too solid for that." Emma appreciated the company but hated how talking left her breathless as she worked. "Definitely a tangible life form."

"Oh…" He kicked his foot at the ground – and something went skittering away. Before Emma could holler at him to leave it alone, he darted after it and scooped it to his chest. "What do you think this is?"

She grimaced and then frowned with curiosity. "I… I'm not really sure."

0-0-0

Tony squatted so that he was eye-level with the table. Bruce loitered behind him, hands on his hips, expression skeptical. The item Henry found was placed center on the surface and was still blinking intermittently.

"We need to run tests," Bruce started.

Tony picked it up and narrowed his eyes. "It's a communicator."

"You can't know that."

"It's blinking in some form of Morse code." Tony tossed the device to Bruce, who caught it and sighed.

"You need a refresher in the scientific method, Tony."

"He's right." Natasha sidled into the room and leaned against a kitchen counter. She folded her arms over her chest and cocked an eyebrow. "It's in code, but that's definitely signaling to someone somewhere."

Bruce tucked his hands into his armpits. "Alright, fine. Pretend for a second that there was some basis for believing this beyond you two saying so. Who is it talking to? What is it saying?"

Tony shrugged. "I told you what it was doing. Isn't that enough? Now it's your turn. You figure it out."

Natasha shook her head. "I swear, everything turns into a pissing contest with you two. I'll do it. It's been a few years since I've had to crack something like this, so give me a day or two, but I'll do it."

Tony turned his attention to Bruce. "Sometimes you just have to go with your instinct, Bruce."

"Gee, Tony, I can't imagine why I might not be comfortable doing that. Science has a method and a process. You can't just do whatever you want and hope for good results."

"It's worked for me so far."

"Order. Precision. Diligence."

"What's that gotten you so far?" Tony teased. "Some anger management issues?"

Natasha took the device and strode from the room. Once out of their earshot, she snorted and asked herself, "Why is they always talk about how to do something, but I'm the one who actually does it?"

"They've done some cool stuff, too." Henry leapt up from the couch, his smile widening. She ignored him, so he slipped into the kitchen and grinned up at his two favorite heroes. Behind his back, he clasped his first edition Avenger's comic, which had been a special present from Regina three years ago on his birthday. Emma had joked that it was worth more than he was – yeah, he thought, and it would be worth even more than that in a few minutes. "Hey."

Tony cut off his next acerbic point to stare at him. "Kid, this is kind of-"

"Important," Bruce finished.

"This is important, too, I swear." He thrust the comic at them. "Can you please sign this? Please please?"

Tony grabbed a pen from the counter and scrawled a messy signature on it. Bruce hesitated until Tony elbowed him roughly. "This is why you don't have girls crawling all over you. You don't take the time to appreciate those who worship you."

"I don't want girls crawling all over me. What if-"

"You live too much in what-ifs." Tony pushed the comic against Bruce's chest. "Time to live in the now."

0-0-0

"They think that the alien was calling for back up." Emma slumped down in the comfortable armchair. She'd had three showers since she finished the clean up, but still felt utterly gross. Regina would barely look at her, which only added to her feeling of gross-ness. She wondered if she hadn't gotten all the gunk off.

"Mm."

"So they're sticking around just to make sure that no back up arrives."

"We handled one. We can handle another."

"Uh, if that's your position, then you definitely have to clean the next one up." Emma stuck her tongue out and retched. "That was the nastiest thing I've ever had to do."

"You're quite lucky that I was Henry's mother through his years in diapers." Regina flipped a page and scanned the figures therein. "Your experience may have had competition."

Emma chuckled. It had taken years before Regina's quips about Henry's childhood no longer stung, but they had had both reached a place of honesty and gentle teasing. Emma remembered the time when every playful insult was taken seriously and shuddered. Things were better now – much better, she determined. Now… her eyes drifted down to Regina's desk. Now there was a chance that she could take her wife against that lovely mahogany.

"Well, either way, it's nice to have the help."

"We don't need it."

"I think we do."

Regina's eyes flickered up briefly before returning to her document. "Do you have any idea the cost of the damage they will no doubt cause?"

"What?"

"You've seen the movies, Ms. Swan. The people here don't have insurance. We cannot have such a large liability running around town, putting our people at risk." Regina's eyes narrowed at the sentence she'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to read for the past few minutes.

"Can't we cast some sort of protection spell?"

"We have hundreds of residents, Ms. Swan."

Emma winced at the use of her name. It was just like calling Henry his full name when he was in trouble. She hated that. Regina was her wife, not her mother, but the stubborn woman could still inflict guilt like it was her professional duty.

"So? Isn't magic just a matter of wanting it hard enough?"

"That's naïve," Regina snapped.

"We're supposed to be heroes, Regina."

"You agreed to that. I did not."

"But-"

"I'm mayor, Ms. Swan. I don't have time to squander in the sandbox with you and your new friends. There are more pressing matters to which I must attend. If that's all you have to tell me, you can go home and play. Just be home in time for dinner."

Emma stood abruptly. "I think I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

"Very well." Regina kept her head bowed. "Good day, Ms. Swan."

"Regina," Emma returned, her voice crisp and hurt. "Maybe when you're done being afraid of being a hero, you'll get your head out of your ass."

0-0-0

"They signed it!" Henry slid the comic across to Emma, who feigned interest, and then to Regina, who smiled at him but didn't look.

"That's nice, dear."

He pulled it back to his chest and sighed. "The kids at school are going to be super jealous. I've got real super heroes to sign the comic books they star in."

Emma's brow crinkled. "Y'know, come to think of it, I didn't even know super heroes were real until now. I lived in New York for a while, and I never really ran into that sort of thing."

"You probably weren't paying attention." Henry grew quiet for a moment, before getting his second wind. "Hawk Eye said he'd teach me to shoot."

"I won't let you touch a gun," Regina responded. "Not until you're older."

"Mo-om," Henry complained, "Hawy Eye shoots a bow and arrow."

"Don't take that tone with me."

"Relax, Regina. He's just excited."

"That's no reason to-"

"Regina."

"Ms. Swan."

"And Black Widow is going to teach me some of the codes she knows. I wanted to learn some of the fighting stuff, but she said that I'm not old enough for that yet. She says she doesn't really know the sort of stuff that's not meant to kill." His eyes widened. "Could you imagine me doing that?"

"Nope, kid. You're not really that deadly looking."

He bristled. "But I'm the son of two superheroes now!"

Emma glanced at Regina, who was tacitly ignoring the conversation. "We're like super hero interns right now, if anything."

"You just need some good super names." He pondered this a moment. "Emma, you're all about protection, so you need like a strong name. How do you feel about, like, White Shield? White because, y'know, Snow White is your mom, and shield because that's what you do."

"Kid-"

"Or White Guardian. That one seems okay."

"Kid."

"Or maybe we should choose something based on Swan. There are a lot of bird super heroes. You could be like Hawk Eye. Except Swan Eye doesn't sound nearly as cool. Super Swan is just lame, too."

"Henry." Emma kept an eye on Regina's darkening scowl. "Maybe we can just talk about this later."

"But I haven't even thought about Mom's name." He grinned. "But that's easier. She's Dark Witch."

"Emma, it's fine." Regina stood. "I'm done."

Henry frowned. "Where are you going? Don't you want to help choose Emma's name?"

"If I'm to be Dark Witch, she ought to be something to do with the Light. A complementary name, as our powers complement each other."

He nodded fervently. "Light Shield? Swan Light?"

"You think about that and get back to me, okay?" Emma stood and walked calmly after Regina. The dark haired woman retired to the study, so Emma followed. "Clean up the table."

He grimaced, but she didn't catch the expression as she entered the room and poured Regina a tumbler of cider. Regina accepted the drink wordlessly but didn't reject Emma's choice of seat next to her. She set her head on Emma's shoulder and sighed.

"Why is it that our life cannot simply be…"

"Simple?"

"Exactly."

Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's temple. "Because we were born special."

Regina huffed. "Emma, if you're intent is to make me-"

"I'm just kidding." Emma rolled her eyes. "But damn if you're not on edge."

"I'm not afraid of being a hero," Regina murmured. "I'm afraid of what it might mean for Henry."

"What do you mean?"

"All I want for our son is normalcy. A chance to be like his friends. Instead, not only is he the child of fairytale royalty, but he's got superheroes roaming his house and invading his life. What's he going to do when he's an adult and none of this is happening anymore? Will he be satisfied with quiet? With peace?"

Emma laced her fingers with Regina's. "I never really thought about it. But… I guess… all we can do is try to teach him right."

"I must admit that I find it difficult."

"What?"

"Living like we are ordinary people. Domestic bliss is just…"

"Boring," Emma guessed. "Is that why you suggested tying me up and-"

"Emma." Regina's eyes darted to the door, ever aware that their too-curious off spring was loitering about somewhere nearby. "All I'm saying is that we don't know how to be normal, so how will he?"

"Maybe things will continue to be exciting for the rest of his life."

"That seems to be a hell in and of itself." Regina let out a long gust of air. "I feel out of my depth, Emma. I want nothing but what is best for Henry, but I feel incapable of providing that for him."

"We're doing our best." Emma slid her free hand along Regina' thigh. "That's all any parent can really ever do."

"No other parent has so much to make up for."

Emma's laugh practically exploded from her chest. "All parents make mistakes, Regina. Okay so maybe your mistakes are a little – different – than forgetting a birthday, or embarrassing him in front of his friends – but no parent is perfect. You think Snow and David are?"

Regina's lip curled back. "The two idiots?"

"Exactly. So relax. The heroes will probably be gone in a few days. So for now, why not enjoy it? Let Henry look at us like we're heroes. It's probably the only time in his life that he'll think we're cool."

Regina leaned up and kissed Emma softly. "Thank you, Emma."

"I do what I can." Emma closed her eyes. "So, my Dark Witch, what sort of magic shall we make tonight? What evil shall we defeat?"

"Did you finish the laundry?"

"There you go being all domestic." Emma pried one eye open just far enough to see Regina's smirk. "No, I did not."

"I suppose, then, you're the evil tonight."

Regina rose and carried her glass away. Emma watched her hips sway momentarily before jumping to her feet. "Are you going to punish me?"

0-0-0

"We need to evacuate the town." Steve traced a finger along the map in front of him. "If we can establish a radius of-"

"Nobody can leave."

He brought his gaze up to meet Regina's. "All due respect, ma'am, but there's too much potential for human casualties. The people must be moved."

Emma placed a hand on Regina's arm to keep the other woman from biting out a snippy retort. Regina was here because Emma had promised that it would only hasten the departure of the heroes from their town – but Regina hadn't made any agreements regarding her behavior. Cognizant that their allies were all incredibly powerful people in their own ways, Emma wasn't looking to make any enemies.

"The thing is – the people here have no place in the world. They are from a different world and can only exist in this town. We've had people cross the border before… They forget everything about themselves." Emma shook her head. "The common consensus here is that it's better to die than to forget who you are."

Tony tossed a ball from hand to hand. "What makes them forget?"

"There's a barrier of some sort. It used to be that nobody could cross, but now people can – it just comes with the price of their memories."

"So it's degrading." He held the ball in one hand for a moment while he thought, then resumed the casual game with himself. "Have you run any tests?"

"It's a magical barrier," Regina snapped. "If you know how to test that, then be my guest."

"We don't have time," Bruce interrupted. "I had Fury call in a few favors. The guys out at the Keck Observatory reported an unidentifiable, but very large, object heading towards. They estimated it'll strike down by the end of the day."

"Move everyone to one secure location. You two can protect them, can't you?" Natasha eyed Emma, then transferred her gaze to Regina.

"Oh come on. We're totally going to do more than that."

"There should be enough space for everyone in the high school. I can cast a spell to keep everything out – but it will also keep everyone in as well, and our citizens do not appreciate being held captive, even for their own protection."

Fury entered the room and pressed a button on his watch, which produced a glowing image against the far wall. "We'll deal with this as quickly as we can. Keck got back to us – they were able to estimate the size of the object, and from that we were able to determine roughly how many of those creatures should be inside."

Emma resisted the urge to get up and touch the holographic display. "And how many is that?"

"If they're all the same size as the one we already encountered, we're looking at a strike force of about forty."

"So the one they took down was a scout."

Fury placed his hands on his hips. "It seems so. The stakes are higher now. Do not let any of them survive, and if you find another beacon, destroy it. I don't care how many times we have to prove it – you do not fuck with Earth."

0-0-0

Archie stopped and waited patiently for Pongo to sniff a bush. The dog tilted his head, apparently deep in thought about whether this particular location was suitable for his urine. Finding it acceptable, he eased forward, lifted a leg – and then scrambled away, tail between his legs, ears flat against his head, and haunches up. Confused, Archie knelt next to his pet.

"Pongo, what's wrong?"

Pongo whined, his head focused up at the night sky. Archie squinted. There was a shooting star blazing overhead, except – he pushed his glasses further up his nose – it was getting larger rather than farther away. He stumbled upright and began running back to the high school. Pongo sprinted past him and practically dragged him the last hundred or so yards. Regina was waiting at the edge of the property, her hands glittering.

"Thank you, Madam Mayor," Archie panted. "I think we'll be okay inside now – but – uh-"

"Get in. I'll get the shield up."

He nodded his head gratefully and hurried inside. Pongo would have to hold it, he thought, because they may be inside for quite some time. As soon as he was inside, Regina blasted magic out around the building, willing it to stay safe. Henry was inside, she thought, and that was enough to give her magic the extra boost. She loved him, she thought, which meant he could get away with anything – but she couldn't stand the thought of him getting hurt. She tapped a finger against the shield and was satisfied by the electric zap that attacked her.

"Regina? Are things set?"

Regina lifted a hand to better hold the earpiece in place. "Shield is up. Are things prepared on your end, Ms. Swan."

"One of these days you're going to have to call me something less formal." Emma tried her best to tease, but the seriousness of the coming threat made her voice tense. "Just about. Banner wants to wait another minute or two before the, uh, the other guy comes out."

"I will not have-"

"Regina, I think he's the best judge of what's going to work for him, okay?"

Regina tightened her jaw and assented before hurrying as quickly as she could in heels toward the north end of town. She doubted the plan would actually function as well as those in charge thought it would, but despite this being her town, her opinion was discarded as she had no better plan to offer in its place. While she took care of any creatures that landed there, the south was protected by Iron Man. The east was Captain America's domain, and the west fell under Hawk Eye's protection. Emma, the Hulk, and Black Widow were waiting at the exact place where the attack was supposed to land. As soon as whatever the extraterrestrial object was had hurtled near enough, Hulk would smash it away from the planet, thus saving Storybrooke from impact.

It all sounded so good, Regina thought, but there were too many variables. What got under her skin most was that they had separated her from Emma. If something happened to the blonde – her thoughts cut out immediately as the sky exploded into brilliant light. There was a distant roar, an explosive thud, and then screams. Regina lit her hands up.

0-0-0

Tony scanned the oncoming creatures. They had grossly miscalculated. The scout was large, but these critters were half the size and twice as fast. He blasted at the three that rushed his right side, but they darted deftly out of the way. As he aimed once again, another group hit his left side. They were group predators, he realized, and they were hunting him with more skill than he expected. He blasted up into the air but was smashed back into the cement by an aerial group.

Well. He lifted himself out of the man-sized crater around him and adjusted his plan. They were quick, but he guessed they weren't smart. Finally a chance to use his newest upgrade, he thought. Small explosives popped out of his arms. He had installed them to be aerial weapons, but they were versatile. He waited until one of the creatures had latched onto his armor; he winced as its jaw nearly crushed the metal but managed to release several of the bombs. The creatures screeched, rolled away into its companions, and exploded.

"Cap, what's it like on your end?"

Steve dodged one of the aliens before slinging his shield out into the masses rushing toward him. It bounced between them and then rushed back toward him. He caught it with practiced ease and chose another target. "I've got it under control."

"Check your shield."

"What did you do?" Steve glanced down. "I've told you before, Stark. I don't need your upgrades-"

"Thank me later."

Steve gritted his teeth, but followed the directions Tony gave him. Moments later, darts sprang from the edge of the shield. The barbs on the tips of the darts lodged into whatever the dart landed upon, and moments later, the entire dart exploded and decimated whatever was around it. Darn, Steve thought. He truly would have to thank the other man later.

Miles away, Hulk batted the creatures out of the air as if they were gnats. Those that continued to move faced Black Widow, who found herself struggling to keep up with just how many monsters there were. She emptied clip after clip and then tossed the guns aside. She reverted to her martial arts expertise, but they were almost too small to combat effectively. Emma did her best to keep the other woman safe from side attacks, all the while feeling rather unhelpful and useless.

Regina had made her promise to stay as safe as possible, which meant not putting herself in danger. She was to let the professional heroes do their job. Boring, she thought, and a misuse of her talents. There had to be more she could do-

She watched Natasha kick one of the aliens aside and move fluidly into a jabbing punch. The problem was how near they had to get for Natasha to work effectively. She could probably make something, she thought, that would allow Natasha to fight from a distance. Taking a deep breath and summoning her will power, Emma focused on her hands and visualized a pike like instrument. Something exploded nearby. She concentrated again.

"Black Widow," she called. When the woman looked at her, she tossed the javelin-esque weapon over. Natasha caught it and whipped it around her head, knocking several aliens away. At the other woman's grateful nod, Emma turned her attention back to how she could further provide assistance.

Across town, Hawk Eye blasted shot after shot. After missing the first few arrows, he got a better understanding of their movement patterns and adjusted his aim. His explosive arrows landed every time and slowly he was clearing the wave attack him. The last three zoomed at him; he notched an arrow and fired. One fell. The second was also taken down with ease.

He reached for a third arrow and found his quiver empty. To keep the alien from striking his face, he slammed his bow against it. A cut split open over his cheekbone. His muscles ached as he whipped the bow again and again until the creature lay unmoving on the asphalt. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he activated his communicator.

"West clear."

Iron Man blasted another group. His armor had taken too many hits, he determined. He'd make it through, no doubt about that, but he was going to have to make some serious upgrades. When it was quiet, he cleared his section as well. One by one, each hero checked in –weary, dirty, but alive and victorious.

Regina fumed as the other heroes finished before she did. She blasted alien after alien, but there was only so many fireball she could toss at once. She had tried a massive blast but found that had wasted her energy and done very little damage. Several got too close and she had a few scrapes for her troubles. Her strength was waning, but she managed a last blast that wiped out the remaining few that straggled toward her.

0-0-0

Emma couldn't bring herself to look at her left arm. It felt mangled. It was probably mangled. She pried an eye open and looked. It was mangled. She swallowed down the urge to vomit and struggled to her feet. Natasha helped her stand and poked a finger none too gently against Emma's upper arm. Emma tried to keep quiet, but a pained moan slipped past her defenses.

"I would have been fine."

Emma shrugged her other shoulder as pain rolled through her. "Maybe. I'd rather break an arm, though, than let you potentially get hurt much worse."

Once he had shimmied into a spare pair of pants, Bruce joined them. He eyed Emma's arm and shook his head. "Sometimes I wish I were a medical doctor."

"I'm fine," Emma managed to say. "Just need a little TLC."

"I told you to stay out of trouble!"

Emma turned slowly and smiled sheepishly at the enraged brunette stomping towards her. "I saved a life?"

"I don't care."

Natasha cocked an eyebrow. "I care."

"What if you had been killed instead?" Regina's fists shook at her side. "I refuse-"

Emma waited a moment for Regina to continue, then realized that the brunette would say nothing further until they were alone. "Look, we're all alive. That's good news. And, on top of that, this was much easier than we expected."

Tony's mask slid back over his head as he nudged a corpse with his boot. "I'm never going to complain about that."

"It's almost like when you capture Loki in Germany." Emma and Regina turned at the same moment, wearing matching expressions of incredulous dissatisfaction. Henry wiped his runny nose on his sleeve and beamed at them. "I stayed somewhere safe the whole time, I promise. But I couldn't just let the most epic battle Storybrooke has ever seen happen without me witnessing it."

"I thought you made sure he was safe at the school."

Regina glared at her son. "I left him with Snow. I swear, your mother cannot keep her eye on a child."

"He's right." Clint pointed to the badly brutalized ship – it had a giant Hulk-sized dent in the front. "This isn't over."

As another slew of aliens poured forth, Regina stepped defensively in front of Emma and Henry. Tony's mask snapped back – he checked his power supply and frowned. Though he had collected most of his arrows, Clint wasn't sure he'd have enough. Bruce glanced between the remaining heroes; each and every one was exhausted from the first onslaught. It may not have been difficult to kill the creatures, but the sheer numbers just kept on coming.

Regina raised her hand to incinerate the first alien, but it swooped around her and dove at Henry – who sneezed and then ducked, his arms flying wildly overhead. What a time to have a cold, he thought miserably. And, he added a moment later, what a time to leave his hiding spot. Had he waited just a bit longer, he wouldn't have gotten into more trouble with his moms.

A moment after his sneeze hit the alien, it slumped to the ground. Emma nearly laughed. "What is this? War of the Worlds?"

"That's a book, not reality," Regina responded, though she watched the dead creature with curious eyes. "Just like the Avengers."

"I'm starting to think it's not just fairytales that are real." Using her good arm, Emma lifted Henry to his feet. She gestured for the rest to form a circle and they moved closer to the ship slowly, blasting at aliens that approached.

"I don't know if this'll work." Henry clung to Emma's arm. "You just want me to sneeze on the ship?"

"I've analyzed it," Tony answered. "The 'ship' is actually one of the creatures. The little ones are just…"

"Like white blood cells. They spawn out and take out the organisms that pose threats to the main host."

Henry felt his nose tickling, but he fought the urge to sneeze until they were right up on the ship. With his favorite heroes watching, he turned, took a deep breath, and let loose. He was saving them, he thought with glee.

For a moment, nothing seemed to have happened – but then the exterior of the ship rippled. The flow of aliens out of its maw halted abruptly, and when Tony ran his scan, he was glad to find no signs of life. Regina tugged Henry into a tight hug. He was never leaving the house again, she decided, at least until he was thirty.

"What's next?" Emma wondered out loud. "Dracula?"

"Don't even think it," Regina warned. It was a farfetched idea – but in this town, it seemed like every story had its place.


End file.
